Thursday, February 28, 2008

IPL TO HAVE ENGLISH TALENT

The head of the Indian Premier League on Thursday said English cricketers could be accommodated into future tournaments on the sub-continent.

Lalit Modi's claim that England's top players were interested in the International Cricket Council-sanctioned competition comes hours after the England and Wales Cricket Board toughened its stance against unofficial events such as the Indian Cricket League.

Modi, vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, reckons a tinkering with the scheduling would allow a more global feel to the IPL.

The inaugural 20-over extravaganza is being held in India between April 18 and June 1, which clashes with the opening six weeks of the English domestic summer.

"We have a huge amount of pressure from the English players to be participating in it," Modi told BBC Radio 5 Live. "Sooner or later we will look at adjusting our programmes while we try to bring our league forward. "The objective would be in the future we would be working with the ECB to ensure the overlap doesn't take place."

Finding a window of compatibility will be difficult, however, with England scheduled to tour the Caribbean between February and April 2009.

But there is a feeling around the counties that avoiding a clash is necessary to ensure the participation of the best players in our domestic game.

For example, nine of the Australian side which secured a 5-0 Ashes whitewash over England had spells in county cricket.